BUSM2653 People Analytics Assesment 1 Insightful Analytics Report 2026 | SIM

BUSM2653 Assesment 1 Insightful Analytics Report

Evidence Based HRM

Introduction and Problem Statement

1.Introduce the core issue or challenge that are studied in the given articles.

2.Articulate why these are critical to evidence-based HRM practice.

The two articles I was tasked to research provide valuable insight into how HR practices influence employee behaviour. The first article focused on how and why various reward structures could incentivise people throughout the company to voice out valuable feedback and suggestions, as well as how managers may implement such structures, while the second examined the support relationship between HR departments and the front-line managers that deal with employees on the ground. These articles provide important insight into both the methods which HR can employ to influence the goals of employees into alignment with the company, as well as how these methods should be implemented without being brushed of by front-line managers as ignorable formalities.

Literature Review

Overview of Quantitative Research in HRM

1.Discuss key quantitative methods (e.g., measures, hypotheses development, etc.) and their applications in HRM.

A quantitative analysis refers to an analysis which involves primarily numerical data, condensing down large amounts of gathered information into easier to understand statistics. It is often used to test the relationship between two different factors, as well as to find and generalize patterns of behaviour in large populations. Quantitative research may be categorized into 3 types: descriptive, correlational, and experimental, based on the amount of information you wish to learn about your variables. Descriptive methods provide simple summaries, correlational methods investigate the links between variables, while experimental methods investigate the cause-and-effect variables have on one another.

There are several methods from which information can be gathered, but first, a hypothesis must be formed, as it forms a basis from which experiments can be formed to test (Bulajic et al.2012). From there, information can be gathered from experiments, surveys, passive observation of a current situation, or from previously gathered information. The gathered data must then be sorted descriptively to summarise the gathered data. Only then can the data be compared to the hypothesis to check how much it does or does not support it.

2.Discuss how journal article 1 applied this method and articulate how this helps in evidence-based decision making.

In the first journal article, researchers wished to test the relationships between different kinds of rewards, and how they might incentivise workers to voice out feedback and suggestions. To do so, the researchers crafted four hypotheses, which speculate that psychological safety/organisational identification mediate the positive relationship between tangible/intangible rewards and voice. They then ran three randomised controlled vignette experiments on 832 willing participants over three different countries (China, USA and UK), ensuring a wide range of data points from different industries and cultures. By manipulating participants’ perception of their organisations’ reward practices, researchers can measure how much they identify with their organisation and their psychological safety and compare them with how willing they were to voice, determining the relationship between both factors and a willingness to voice.

From this study, we learn that there is in fact a strong correlation between the provision of rewards of various variety and a willingness to voice by employees. As such, managers should

Overview of Qualitative Research in HRM

1.Discuss key qualitative methods (e.g., interviews, focus groups, thematic/content analysis, etc.) and their applications in HRM.

While the previously discussed quantitative analysis methods focused more on sheer numbers and condensed people into statistics, qualitative analysis methods are more personal, and usually deal with smaller sample sizes. This grants them the benefits of being more detailed, granting deeper insights to how individuals perceive situations. Common qualitative methods used include one to one interview, and forming focus groups to discuss said topic. In HRM, using qualitative research groups might be beneficial in forming a more detailed understanding of the surveyed group, allowing HR departments to more accurately tailor policy to match with

2.Discuss how journal article 2 applied this method and articulate how this helps in evidence-based decision making.

The second article examines the ways in which frontline managers are supported in performance management by their peers, superiors, and HR. To do this, the researchers conducted interviews with 57 employees from two Singaporean public sector organisations, covering two divisions and six departments total.

Methodical Comparison

Strengths and Limitations:

1.Create a comparative analysis that outlines the strengths and weaknesses of both methodologies in HRM.

Quantitative analysis prioritises a large sample size and the insights gleaned from it can be more easily generalised. Qualitative analysis instead focuses on a much smaller group and what is learned while not inapplicable to external groups is much riskier to do so for.

2.Discuss critically when to use each approach and why.

While both approaches have their strengths and weaknesses, it is important to a business to know when to use each method. How you know which method to use is largely dependant on the type of result you want.

The first article focused on the creation of a theoretical model for influence of rewards on voice. This was a previously overlooked in many studies, which focused more on the leaders’ implementations of policy in a company rather than the HRM practices that undermined their actions. For this purpose, quantitative analysis was more suitable as it allowed for easier generalization and hypothesis testing. Using this method also allowed the researchers to broaden the scope of their study to include multiple nations and industries, making their results widely applicable.

The second article wished to understand the views of frontline managers to the support they received. In this case, since the authors wished to understand the thoughts of frontline managers based on current systems, it would be unnecessary to create an experiment of some kind, and naturalistic study would be preferred. The use of interviews would also allow for more interesting answers researchers may not have planned for. In addition, the use of a qualitative research method would allow deeper insights into the relationships of frontline managers relating to the support they receive. The biggest drawbacks of qualitative research would be its lack of generalisability. The researchers acknowledge this, stating that ‘the findings were developed from the sample from two divisions of two Singapore public sector organisations, limiting generalisability’. Due to the small sample size, it would be disingenuous to assume that the findings can be applied universally to companies as a whole. Additionally,

Integration of Methods

1.Discuss the concept of mixed methods research, emphasizing how combining quantitative and qualitative approaches can yield richer insights into HR issues.

2.Pick one of the two articles and describe how follow-up research can help enhance the insights using mixed methods.

Implications to TFC

Key considerations and recommendation:

1.Discuss your position about jumpstarting intervention planning based on the 2 articles’ insights and what are critically needed to move forward. Make a compelling case to justify your recommendations.

2.Describe the opportunities to the CHRO if evidence based HRM is successfully implemented at TFC.

References

Aleksandar Bulajic, Milan Stamatovic and Slobodan Cvetanovic (2012) “The importance of defining the hypothesis in scientific research”, International Journal of Education Administration and Policy Studies Vol. 4(8), pp. 170-176, DOI: 10.5897/IJEAPS12.009